1964 About us …

A new factory is born, a new badge is born

In the early 60s it was getting difficult to acquire staff in Birmingham due to labour shortages in the motor industry. The decision was made to set up an enamelling operation in a small part of a large mill in Eccles, which was being used for the company’s mail-order business at that time. This was where the school badges were then enamelled and plated.

In 1964 the company opened a small factory in Urmston, Manchester. It was here, and in the same year, that Thomas Fattorini successfully designed and patented the “Personal Badge” an injection moulded reusable name badge. The Urmston Factory subsequently became the centre for the development of the personal plastic name badges.

The badges were supplied with card inserts for the customer to complete with a typewriter. Later there was the option of an engraved panel which looked smarter. They were however very expensive, as engraving was still a very labour intensive process using a pantograph machine.

Thomas needed to wait a further 16 years before things went really crazy in the world of personalised name badges … see 1980